Variant Quranic Readings (Qira'at) and Problems Related to Preservation

Variant Raedings (Qira'at)

The Qur’an is held to be revealed in seven variants of recitation or qira’ah. These variants of recitation were approved and tolerated by the Prophet himself because they were congenial to the reciters’ tribal or local linguistic traditions, in other words the purpose was to facilitate recitation for Muslims. These variants do not cause much change either in the meaning or the structure or format of the verses. However, some orientalists have misunderstood and overemphasized these various modes of recitation to insinuate a sort of disunity and nonconformity in the Qur’anic text failing to understand that the text of the Qur’an has allowed several equally valid ways of recitation without affecting as mentioned meaning or structure.

Contemorary Critics

Some contemporary critics of the Qur’an count around 1400 canonical variants in the Quranic text and conclude that these variants are recipe for confusion, alteration, interpolation and lack of meticulous preservation of the Quranic text. They try to make mountains of molehills and cast doubt to a text so meticulously recited, memorized and preserved from the beginning.  A second critical group notes that these variants are part of a recognizable and fixed structure of the Quranic text and no alternate passages exist. They confess that the Quran has been quite remarkably uniform in its “rasm.”

Consenting Orientalists

Other orientalists have concurred with Muslim scholars, and have concluded over the years that these variants are just different ways of reciting the text which does not make much difference either to the Qur’an’s meaning or the overall sense of the text. As A. S. Tritton observes: “There are seven or ten different ‘readings’ of the Koran; these are for the most part what the English word implies, different ways of pronouncing the text, elision or assimilation of certain letters. Many variants in vocalization are recorded but they are so slight as to be negligible, except for specialists: they make no vital difference to the sense.”

Sir W. Muir writes: “The various readings are wonderfully few in number, and are chiefly confined to differences in the vowel points and diacritical signs.” Willaim A. Graham remarks: “Accordingly, seven, ten, or fourteen traditions of qira’at are sometimes cited as “authentic” in the Muslim literature, and even these traditions have branched to form subtraditions. As a result, the panoply of variant riwayat that the expert must master is quite large, even though the actual textual variations they represent are relatively minor and do not involve crucial differences in the literal meaning of the sacred text.”

Oliver Leaman, a modern Jewish scholar, suggests that the variety in qira'at stems from the Quran's incorporation of the predominant Arabic dialects and vernaculars prevalent during the time of its revelation. Similarly, Csaba Okváth notes that these different recitations reflect the dialectal characteristics of the Arabic language.

These conclusions drawn by orientalists are almost identical to the views of Muslims regarding the issue at hand. Muslims maintain that these variant readings were authorized by the Prophet himself, and the disciples kept them as exegetical footnotes in their commentaries and passed them on from generation to generation as qira’ah or “recitation tradition.” These variant readings affect neither the form nor the substance nor the meaning of the Qur’an. Abu Abd Al-Rahman al-Sulami writes, "The reading of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Zayd ibn Thabit and that of all the Muhajirin and the Ansar was the same. They would read the Quran according to the Qira'at al-'ammah. This is the same reading which was read out twice by the Prophet to Gabriel in the year of his death. Zayd ibn Thabit was also present in this reading [called] the 'Ardah-i akhirah. It was this very reading that he taught the Quran to people till his death"

These facts led contemporary Harvard scholar H. P. Smith to reach conclusions fairly close to those of traditional Muslim views viz-à-viz the authenticity and integrity of the Qur’an. He observes with regards to the Qur’an that “there is no reason to suspect either its integrity or its authenticity. The assurances we have on this point are very complete. The prime fact is that the revelations were committed to memory by a large body of converts during the life of Mohammad....There can be no reasonable doubt that the copies in our hands correspond very closely with this original, and that this original does not vary in any important particular from the text recited by Mohammad himself.”

R. V. C. Bodley observes that “today there is no possible doubt that the Koran which is read wherever there are Moslems, is the same version as that translated from Hafsa’s master copy.... What is important is that the Koran is the only work which has survived for over twelve hundred years with an unadulterated text. Neither in the Jewish religion nor in the Christian is there anything which faintly compares to this.”

Living Arabic Language

In addition, Arabic, the original language of the Qur’an and the Prophet, is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world today, actively used by millions as their first language. In fact, it is the only Semitic tongue which has remained uninterruptedly alive for thousands of years, and moreover is the only living language which has remained largely unchanged for the last fourteen centuries. Philip Hitti noted that it was the Qur’an that “kept the language uniform. So that whereas today a Moroccan uses a dialect different from that used by an Arabian or an Iraqi, all write in the same style.” In fact, it was the Qur’an which, according to Esposito, was “central to the development of Arabic linguistics and provided the basis for the development of Arabic grammar, vocabulary, and syntax.”

Moreover, unlike the Bible, the followers of the Qur’an believe it to be the divine word of God, the revelation verbatim. It is authoritative and normative to the very definition of the word, and although Muslims may differ, and have differed, over the interpretations and meanings of Qur’anic words, they have never questioned the authenticity, truthfulness and authoritative nature of its text. It is interesting to note that Muslims throughout their history and without exception, have unanimously accepted every part of the Qur’an – the entire Qur’anic text – as the verbatim word of God. They have revered it as the first determining principle of their religious beliefs, the fundamental source of their Law, and the unequivocal authority regarding matters of faith and religion by no way superseded by any other authority. A. Rippin notes that “whatever the case, one thing remains quite clear. The Qur’an is, and has been from the beginning of the emergence of Islam as a religion, the primary source and reference point. Indeed, the Qur’an in its function as that source of authority is the defining point of Islamic identity. The emergence of the Muslim community is intimately connected with the emergence of the Qur’an as an authoritative text in making decisions on matters of law and theology.”

Josef van Ess also observes that “the Muslims are not cut off from the word of God, for the Qur’an not only interprets what God has said but contains God’s ipsissima verba. Each and every denomination of Islam believes in Muhammad’s verbal inspiration. This was a logical result of the Islamic notion of prophecy, and we have already seen it taken for granted at every point when God turns to Muhammad with the imperative “Say.” Islamic theology is thus spared the trouble of searching the Qur’an for the authentic sayings of Muhammad; and only an unbelieving student of Islamics could claim that the utterances of the Qur’an reflect the faith of the earliest Muslim community.” This is in contrast to the Christian scriptures where theologians struggle to differentiate the genuine words of Jesus from the words and sayings of his disciples. Therefore, the entire text of the Qur’an carries equal and indisputable religious authority.

In summary, the Qur’an’s recitational variations, far from indicating any textual discordance, exemplify the text's adaptability and reverence for linguistic diversity, while maintaining its integral message and authority as the central religious text in Islam.